Charles obviously had Asperger Syndrome. I have met ~100 adults with Aspergers, and he was a very severe case. Perhaps fewer then 10% of people with Aspergers would be as severe. I also believe Rainman = Autism as Crumb = Asperger's Syndrome, meaning if anyone wants to know what adults with Aspergers look like they should watch Crumb,...or Ghost World or American Splendor. Way better then that abomination that sank without trace...I cant remember it...Oh yea, Mozart and the Whale.
For those that don't know: Asperger's is mild autism. People with Asperger's typically exhibit a lack of social skills, an inability to develop friendships and have one or just few obsessive and focused interests.
For those that don't know: Asperger's is mild autism. People with Asperger's typically exhibit a lack of social skills, an inability to develop friendships and have one or just few obsessive and focused interests.
I don't mean to sound cynical, but isn't that the description of a typical nerd/geek?
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If you exaggerate the eccentric conspiracy theorist, who publishes books on Phone Masts controlling peoples minds, by 10 = schizophrenia ; Nerd x 10 = Asperger's. Charles committed suicided in 1994, nuff said.
Here is a description of Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) written in 1851 (long before the concept of the Nerd). Cavendish likely had Asperger's, his obsession was science rater then Gilligan's Island.
"He did not love; he did not hate; he did not hope; he did not fear; he did not worship as others do. He separated himself from his fellow men, and apparently from God. There was nothing earnest, enthusiastic, heroic, or chivalrous in his nature, and as little was there anything mean, grovelling, or ignoble. He was almost passionless. All that needed for its apprehension more than the pure intellect, or required the exercise of fancy, imagination, affection, or faith, was distasteful to Cavendish. An intellectual head thinking, a pair of wonderfully acute eyes observing, and a pair of very skilful hands experimenting or recording, are all that I realise in reading his memorials. His brain seems to have been but a calculating engine; his eyes inlets of vision, not fountains of tears; his hands instruments of manipulation which never trembled with emotion, or were clasped together in adoration, thanksgiving, or despair; his heart only an anatomical organ, necessary for the circulation of the blood. . .
Cavendish did not stand aloof from other men in a proud or supercilious spirit, refusing to count them his fellows. He felt himself separated from them by a great gulf, which neither they nor he could bridge over, and across which it was vain to stretch hands or exchange greetings. A sense of isolation from his brethren, made him shrink from their society and avoid their presence, but he did so as one conscious of an infirmity, not boasting of an excellence. He was like a deaf mute sitting apart from a circle, whose looks and gestures show that they are uttering and listening to music and eloquence, in producing or welcoming which he can be no sharer. Wisely, therefore, he dwelt apart, and bidding the world farewell, took the self-imposed vows of a Scientific Anchorite, and, like the Monks of old, shut himself up within his cell. It was a kingdom sufficient for him, and from its narrow window he saw as much of the Universe as he cared to see. It had a throne also, and from it he dispensed royal gifts to his brethren. He was one of the unthanked benefactors of his race, who was patiently teaching and serving mankind, whilst they were shrinking from his coldness, or mocking his peculiarities. . .He was not a Poet, a Priest, or a Prophet, but only a cold, clear Intelligence, raying down pure white light, which brightened everything on which it felt, but warmed nothing—a Star of at least the second, if not of the first magnitude, in the Intellectual Firmament."
From. Wilson, G. The life of the honorable Henry Cavendish. London: The Cavendish Society, 1851.
i have aspergers syndrome. basically, i have trouble figuring out whether people are being sarcastic and what certain expressions that people make mean. therefore, i withdraw myself from public because people take advantage of me and call me stupid.
"I don't mean to sound cynical, but isn't that the description of a typical nerd/geek?" The description sounds the same, but a typical nerd/geek would not be diagnosed with mental illness or need medication.
I don't mean to sound cynical, but isn't that the description of a typical nerd/geek?
Yes, and most of the people we call nerds/geeks in fact have Asperger's. It's been around throughout history, just never really understood exactly what it was. Also not everyone with it is affected to the same degree. Charles seems to have withdrawn from society and given up leading him to "deteriorate." If he had managed to maintain some sort of steady job out in society he probably wouldn't have turned out quite so bad.
And you know what? I can usually tell when people are being sarcatic and when they're uninterested. I can make eye contact. My psychiatrist, who sees me once every two months or so, diagnosed me. But he knows what he's talking about. . . right?